All posts in Wilson Combat Magazines

Wilson Combat makes a wide range of products from 1911 Handguns to AR15’s. They seem to be geared towards more advanced firearms focused on accuracy. There are a great many fit differences between 1911 styles and AR15 as well as shotguns. There are many new advancements in firearm designs and what a 1911 was 100 years ago is not what a 1911 is today. metallurgy, gun lubrication and polymer have increase reliability dramatically. Polymer magazines and firearms are the future but there are still simple designs in Wilson Combat Magazines that give them viability for a long time to come.

I feel that many 45acp handguns usually balance out around 8-10rds and after that, they become too heavy. It’s all about what your feel and tolerances are, but the 1911 feels balanced in that capacity range. Some Wilson Combat Magazines are primarily meant for competition shooting and I still only hear about Wilson Combat when it comes to extended 1911 magazines. There are 9mm magazines also available and are often the fastest magazines to sell out. There are also a lot of newer CCW 1911 models specifically for concealment. The 1911 is still one of the most tinkered with firearms, probable only 2nd to the AR15, but I strongly suggest Wilson Combat Triggers, Springs and Slide Releases for your handgun.

That’s about how long I’ve been using Wilson Combat Magazines with my 1911’s, and after 20yrs I’m sticking with them. I have never felt the need to use 7rd magazines, nor have I felt that the 10rd extended magazines were of any use to me. I’ve been running and gunning the 8rd Wilson Combat magazines with very few issues. The truth of the matter is I’ve run some of these magazines long enough for springs needing to be replaced and all of the springs replaced in my 1911s. Everything in the firearms industry wears out and breaks at some point, it’s just how long it runs and what it’s failure points are.

There is always somebody new to the world of 1911s and you don’t always have to buy a high end 1911 to have a reliable one. I’ve shot 185gr 45acp FMJ and 185gr hollow points, 230gr RN and 230gr HP rounds in my 1911s. I’ve done barrel throating and polishing of feed ramps and got good results and I’ve seen the difference my guns jamming with hollow point ammunition when using USGI mags, and the same ammo NOT jamming with my Wilson Combat Magazines. Most people using the extended 10rd magazines are using them for competition shooting sports.

I don’t think there are firearms out there besides the 1911 and the AR15 that are ALWAYS customized. It’s rare for me to find a firearm that is just a stock version. There are quad rails, MOE rails, M-lok rails, Key-Mod. With 1911s, there are so many slides, triggers, grips, extensions, magazine base plate, barrels and on and on. There are ways to make these competition shooter guns or precision rifles, but there are always combat versions. The 1911 isn’t going anywhere, even though there are high capacity firearms in 45acp like the Glock 21, but the accuracy and fun you get with 45acp for competition won’t disappear.

I’ve found that Wilson Combat Magazines always work best in my firearms but I keep it simple with ball ammo. There are modifications to the throat of a 1911 that you can make to feed hollow point ammunition but I’ve only done that to one of my 1911s. I consider the Wilson Combat 8rd Magazines to be “standard capacity” for my 1911s and don’t notice any reliability differences. Many in the competition shooting world use the Wilson Combat 10rd magazines but I find extended magazines to be uncomfortable for CCW. Extended magazines tend to get caught on clothing and are more likely to snag. If you own a 1911, and you haven’t discovered Wilson Combat Magazines then think about adding them to your collection because they work.

One thing I learned a long time ago, is magazine rotation and paying attention to round counts in firearms. You don’t have to be exact but if you keep a reference to how you buy in ammunition, it will be a good way to know how much you put through your firearm. I’ve been on firing ranges enough to see firearms fall apart, scope reticles spin, magazines dump ammunition and semi-auto firearms go full auto. Those statistics are there and they will eventually occur at some point. There are reasons why you need to always point a firearm in a safe direction because there are mechanical things that can occur that can and do happen.

Magazine and recoil spring replacements are inevitable and it’s best to stay ahead of the game before you find out at the wrong time. You should consider having range magazines and having carry magazines and always ROTATE your magazines. Wilson Combat ETM magazines have numbers on the bottom of the magazines that you can use to help you monitor usage. I’ve never had issues using 8rd 1911 magazines and pretty consider that to be a standard capacity magazine even though 7rds use to be the common standard.

I remember back in the day of the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban and what it was like to go to Gun Shows and all you saw were after market magazines and many of them being not very reliable, if you wanted standard capacity magazines that were factory made, you had to pay a pretty hefty price for them. One of the reasons I ended up going with the Beretta 92FS was because that had the most availability for used standard capacity magazines and reliability was what I always wanted. The Colt 1911 was the first hand gun I owned but the AWB really didn’t impact that firearm, and as a matter of fact, there was actually a trend towards firearms like this because if you were stuck with 10rds and less for a firearm, why not go with 45acp. For some reason I thought I still needed more than Wilson Combat 7rd or Wilson Combat 7rd magazines but I ended up going with a cheap aftermarket 10rd magazine, and the mags barely lasted more than 3 range sessions before they crapped out on me.

I learned that lesson real fast and just went back to 8rds +1 but on my learning curve, I stopped doing the +1 on my guns because after several training events, started noticing that this was over stressing the springs and if you have cheap springs, they are going to slow down and throw off the timing on your 1911 and it’s either going to stove pipe or fail to feed properly. I’ve made the decision in the past that any time I change the magazines springs on my handguns, I change the recoil springs because I’ve seen “timing issues” on many occasions and I don’t own unreliable handguns. There are always tweaks you can do if you have the patience to salvage magazines that don’t work but why waste your time and get Wilson Combat 10rd Magazines that are very popular with our IDPA Competition shooters. I personally find anything over 8rds for 1911s to throw off the balance of the gun but there is a time and place for extended magazines.

We get a lot of questions from our customers and often they are telling us what we should stock in our store. When we get asked enough times we usually take a serious look into who is making it and determine whether it just a fad, or if it is something new, improved, or a really versatile accessory. We’ve always known that Wilson Combat Magazines were a product to stock but there are still so many types of magazines with different base pads, Magazine Specifications, Wilson Combat 6rd 1911 Magazines, Wilson Combat 7rd 1911 Magazines, 8rd magazines or even the 10rd Magazines are often sought after from our Competition Shooter and IDPA customer base.

The most popular 1911 Magazine right now is the Wilson Combat ETM Magazines which have pretty much replaced the Wilson Combat 47D 8rd Magazines that were popular for years. Some have their preferences in what kind of Base Pad pad they should have whether it’s the Wilson Combat Magazines with the standard .350 base pad so they have a little something to grab on the magazine to clear it, normally a competition shooter wants this, or a lower profile base pad. When you get into concealed carry, sometimes those extended base pads or non-flush fitting 1911 magazines can cause the gun to snag t-shirts or clothing while CCWing your firearm and you may want something else. If you are in the situation you just want to try something else or are a first time buyer there’s something about the Wilson Combat ETM Magazines that people like so maybe that’s what you should consider.

We have a lot of gun owners that stop in our store, usually it’s for a holster for their first purchase and they are looking for something, but don’t have any idea where to start form. We highly recommend that people consider shooting IDPA when they are going to be CCW a firearm because it’s usually a very good way to get some street smarts and to understand that not every shooting experience is going to be on level ground with stationary targets. If you are in the Delaware County look into Double Action Indoor range in Yeadon PA for their next shoot and you’ll learn as much there form the person competing in front of you as well as shooting the competition yourself.

In some circumstances it’s best to just got to an event and ask people why they chose the firearm they are using and what kind of holster and magazine setup they have. One thing that has picked up for the people shooting 1911s are the Wilson Combat magazines called the Elite Tactical magazine. These have number markings on the bottom of the magazines so you can use them in a rotation and wear the magazines in a consistent manor. Some people don’t know that even though you may have gotten one or two magazines with your gun, it’s not a good idea to go to the range with small quantities of magazines and use them in self defense without risking finding out that you now have a malfunction because your magazine is cycling too slow. We highly suggest having atleast 3 magazines for any gun you shoot frequently and rotate them.

I have several 1911 handguns that I have run over the years and still prefer the GI M1911 styles with some slight changes like the sights. I’m a big fan of the Trijicon HD or high definition sights because they are so much better than the traditional tritium sights. Much brighter in the day time, too. I’ve messed around with the Glock 30 and the Glock 21 but I find the Glock 21 to be entirely too big of a handgun for CCW and just something so well balanced as the 1911 just can’t be beat. The Sig 220 is a close second but the trigger pull differences between a single action and a SA/DA is considerable if you are looking for first hit accuracy. I love my Sigs but they are not going to be as consistent with the first shot being so much hard to pull.

Wilson combat makes a lot of gun parts for the 1911 and you can customize this gun in just about any way you want. Hand sizes can vary so customization of a firearm is important but the one thing that I find constant is my Wilson Combat Magazines are always going to be running in all of my 1911 handguns. I prefer the 8rd ETM magazines because they feel a little stronger and with the numbers being printed on the bottom of the magazines its easy to keep a track record of my magazine rotations when I am shooting IDPA or other competition events. I’ve also noticed a much better knock down ration with 45acp ball ammo on steel plates and that’s really just what is so good about the 45acp.

I’ve been around the gun community for so long that there are certain things that just start to click, and then you feel like you’ve arrived. I didn’t understand why people were so particular about 1911 magazines and all of the various pads and plate lengths. We’ve been selling AR15 parts and accessories for more than 7yrs and and I never felt the need for putting ranger plates on my pmags or GI magazines until I started shooting competition events. Just those fractions of a second difference and primarily, the ability to securely grip or clear an empty magazine was improved if you had an extended base plate. Sometimes magazines don’t drop free because of the shooting angles you are on and this seems to be very common with some 1911s.

I have stuck with Wilson mags for my Colt and Springfield Armory guns and haven’t looked back. Some people like the 7rd magazines but I have never had an issue with any of my Wilson Combat magazines in 8rd, especially the ETM magazines. The Black Elite Tactical magazines seem to be the hardest one for us to keep i n stock because our distributors don’t seem to get very many of them. There are design improvements that are primarily geared to the competition shooter. The National IDPA event ususally gets a lot of Wilson Combat supporters and I was fortunate enough to attend some of those. 45acp is a great round for shooting steel and if you need a good magazine for your 1911, stick with the best.

The first thing I said to myself when we started carrying the ETM magazines was “why would I bother” and then I looked up the info and reviews about them and found out that it was really all about competition shooting more than it was about another reliable 1911 magazine. The Wilson combat magazines are the most expensive magazines that we sell for the 1911 but in the 16yrs I’ve been using them, I have had a very long and good experience in using them. I have seen people crack them but I have never had that happen, over time and magazine is going to wear out and even the Magpul pmags I have in my inventory have shown some cracks after about 8yrs. The best thing about the Wilson magazines for the 1911 are that the followers are very well balanced. They move up and down without tilting which makes a very big difference when feeding FMJ into the throat of a 1911 handgun.

Rotating your magazine in your inventory is very important if you want to keep on top of your reliability. For people that are shooting thousands of rounds of ammunition through their guns each year, knowing when you need to change out the springs on your Wilson Combat magazines before they start to fail is really a good policy. I have a few other parts on my Colt 1991A1 that could use some checkups on but I’ll probable take it to a gunsmith to replace hammer springs ect. I have not run hollow point ammunition through my 1911s in a long time, but to prevent over penetration I probable should do some research into getting some of the